In ancient times and places where potable water was scarce and people drank alcoholic beverages for substance, how were the people not dehydrated and hung over all the time?

Question

In ancient times and places where potable water was scarce and people drank alcoholic beverages for substance, how were the people not dehydrated and hung over all the time?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Their alcoholic drinks were WAYYY less strong than today’s. A plain beer in history might only be 2-3% alcohol, with modern day beers 4-5% is standard on the low end, some get up to 8%.

So, the dehydrating effects of their drinks really weren’t as serious. Also, in most cases, people still drank water, it was only really rare situations where the water wasn’t trusted in cities/urban areas. But even then, take ancient room, they built massive infrastructure (aqueducts) to bring water into their cities and into their fountains, fountains that people did drink out of. The idea that people never drank water is a fallacy.